The father of the Catholic Church Cristo Rey, Luis Urriza, resigns

BEAUMONT, Texas – For more than 75 years, Father Luis Urriza served the community of the Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Beaumont, but his time in the Diocese of Beaumont may soon be coming to an end.

The news of Urriza’s imminent leave took him and his parishioners by surprise.

Urriza said Bishop David Toups told him on Sunday that he had to leave the parish he helped found by October 16.

Urriza, originally from Spain, came to Beaumont in the 1940s and literally built the Cristo Rey Catholic Church from the ground up.

Some members of the Hispanic Catholic community said he united the group when they were divided.

“Father Luis belongs to the Augustinians. His province is in Spain, and the bishop has received a statement from his provincial saying that Father Luis must return to his community, ”said Jesus Abrego, co-director of the office of multicultural ministry with the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont.

Urriza began his training with the Augustinians in Spain. It is a religious order to which he remained obedient despite his work for the diocese of Beaumont.

The diocese said it had no control over the Augustinian order, but was grateful to the religious order for letting Urriza stay in Beaumont for all of these years.

The diocese told 12News the decision was just as heartbreaking for them as it was for its parishioners.

Urriza said it’s a tough pill to swallow, but he loves the members of his church and will always remember them, even when he returns to Spain.

“I’m sorry to have to go. Really, I don’t like it, but I have to accept it,” Urriza said.

Urriza said he understood his parishioners in the Cristo Rey Catholic Church community were unhappy with the news.

He too said he was taken aback when he sat down to visit Bishop David Toups on Sunday.

“I had to talk to the bishop about something else and when I walked into his office he started saying ‘You have to retire because you are already 100 years old,’” said Urriza.

So how did Toups make this decision? If you ask the diocese, they didn’t really have a choice.

According to Abrego, the Augustinian order in Spain, to which Urriza belongs, contacted the bishop and requested that Urriza be returned there.

“We were really surprised,” Abrego said. “And we are also very grateful to the Augustinians because they have allowed him to stay all these years, working past retirement age.”

Abrego said there are certain rules that prevent Toups from keeping Urriza in the diocese.

“It’s at the provincial level,” Abrego said. “It’s not up to the bishop when it comes to religious priests. When it comes to diocesan priests, that’s another story.”

It still does not alleviate the pain that many parishioners like Jacqueline Hernandez are feeling following the news.

Hernandez said many parishioners understand the reasoning but are not happy with the suddenness of the decision, how quickly it will leave and how it was shared with them.

“It hurts our feelings a bit,” Hernandez said. “He really is because he’s a figure in so many people’s lives that he’s part of our family. He spends more time with us than he has with his own family.”

A parishioner said some parishioners in Cristo Rey met at church on Tuesday evening in view of the news. Hernandez said they were planning a march soon to protest the move.